The Wikimedia Foundation hits its $20 million USD fundraising target for Wikipedia

For those of you who have been greeted by banners at the top of Wikipedia pages for the past few months urging you to donate money, those longing eyes will no longer haunt you. The Wikimedia Foundation announced today that it has reached its $20 million USD fundraising goal and will now be taking down those banners.

According to a Wikipedia blog posting by Jay Walsh, over one million donors from around the world contributed to the $20 million campaign. Walsh also indicated that its 2011 haul far surpassed the "meager" $4.5 million raised during 2008.

Say "goodbye" to these Wikipedia fundraising banners

Likewise, Sue Gardner, Executive Director of the Wikimedia Foundation, posted the following message:

Thank you.

We've taken down our fundraising banners, because we’ve hit our target. Thanks to you. Over the past few months, more than one million people have come together from all over the world to keep Wikipedia and its sister sites alive and flourishing for another year.

Your support is how we pay our bills. People like you, giving five dollars, twenty dollars, a hundred dollars. Thank you for helping us.

We’re the #5 most-popular site in the world --- we operate on a tiny fraction of the resources of any other top site. We will use your money carefully and well, I promise you.

For everyone who helps pay for Wikipedia and all the Wikimedia projects, and for those who can't afford to help -- thank you so much for making the world a better place.

Wikipedia serves over 20 million articles, is the fifth most popular website on the internet, and will celebrate its 11th anniversary on January 15, 2012.